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If ever you are caught in a bush/brush/wildfire while driving, the safest place for you is to stay in the vehicle. (this is what we bushfire-fighters have learnt).

The reason - there is a wall of heat that travels just ahead of the flames, often well over 1,000 degrees C. Against it, the human body has no chance, but it passes within a couple of seconds. After that, you get the flames, for maybe 5-10 minutes.

The best chance of survival is to seal all the windows, and if given a chance, position the vehicle in a clear an area as possible. Get down as low to the floor as possible, and cover yourself as much as possible, try not to expose any skin or flesh, as we see where people were holding a blanket and their exposed fingers were burnt off.

Yes, the vehicle will most likely catch fire (and cars don't explode), but the air inside will remain breathable for a couple of minutes, allowing the main fire-storm to pass, so try to stay under cover as long as you can, and at the last possible moment, then 'bail-out'. Keep low, even to find a hole in the ground or a culvert to shelter in.

At least with this, with a little thought and not panicking, you will get out alive, maybe injured and burnt, but alive.

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@EagleWings, Thank you for that very pertinent and expert advice. I would have never known or thought to take those precautions, if you hadn't taken the time to write it.

Thanks breezy, I just hope that have to use the advice and go through a 'Burn-Over'.

From what I hear (from first-hand), the most frightening thing is the noise - very loud and scary.

We suggest you always carry a woolen blanket in the car - they are flash and fire-retardant and a good insulator. Any other shielding should be fire rated if you can, but in an emergency, anything is better than nothing.

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@EagleWings and under wool, all I do is itch LOL. but better to have skin that itches, rather than no skin at all.

Speaking of wildfires. The West Coast of the US is, at this moment, quite literally, on fire.

The following link shows an area of N. California, where Reddwolf's family and friends live. Some are surrounded by as many as 40 fires caused by serious incidents of dry lightning. I think they've now been advised to evacuate once again, Smoke is so thick it's hard to see or breathe.

The fire situation in California is very bad, the state is on fire from the N to the S, and here is one close to where I live

The Wettest Rainforest in the United States Has Gone up in Flames

By Subhankar Banerjee

July 30, 2015

Photo Courtesy of The National Wildfire Coordinating Group.

"The wettest rainforest in the continental United States had gone up in flames and the smoke was so thick, so blanketing, that you could see it miles away. Deep in Washington’s Olympic National Park, the aptly named Paradise Fire, undaunted by the dampness of it all, was eating the forest alive and destroying an ecological Eden. In this season of drought across the West, there have been far bigger blazes but none quite so symbolic or offering quite such grim news. It isn’t the size of the fire (though it is the largest in the park’s history), nor its intensity. It’s something else entirely—the fact that it shouldn’t have been burning at all. When fire can eat a rainforest in a relatively cool climate, you know the Earth is beginning to burn.

And here’s the thing: the Olympic Peninsula is my home. Its destruction is my personal nightmare and I couldn’t stay away."

snip

A FIRE THAT JUST WON’T STOP

Once the fire began, I just couldn’t keep away. On a rainy July 10, for instance, listening to James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” I drove toward the Queets River Valley to learn more about the Paradise Fire so that I could “talk about things to come.”

At the Kalaloch campground, I asked the first park employee I ran into whether the rain, then coming down harder, might extinguish the fire? “It will slow down the fire’s spread,” she told me, “but won’t put it out. There’s too much fuel in that valley.”

The next morning, with the rain still falling steadily and the fire still burning, I stood at the trailhead to the valley thinking about what another park employee had told me. “The sad thing,” she said, “is that the fire is burning in the most primitive of the three river valleys.” In other words, I was standing mere miles away from the destruction of one of the most primeval parts of the forest. As Queets was also one of the more difficult locations to visit, less attention was being given to the fire than if, say, it were in the always popular Hoh valley.

In a sense, the Paradise Fire has been burning out of sight of the general public. Information about it has been coming from press releases and updates prepared by the National Park Service. Though it is doing a good job of sharing information, environmental disasters and their lessons often sink in most deeply when they are observed and absorbed into collective memory via the stories, fears, and hopes of ordinary citizens."

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"MIDDLETOWN, Calif. (AP) — As firefighters battled a massive Northern California wild land blaze threatening numerous homes, some of the 13,000 people urged to flee their residences were spending what may be just one of many nights in evacuation shelters.

The blaze that has charred nearly 97 square miles of brush and timber, jumped a highway Monday that had served as a containment line. Its rapid growth caught firefighters off guard and shocked residents.Vicki Estrella, who has lived in the area for 22 years, stayed at a Red Cross shelter at Middletown High School along with her husband and their dog."It's amazing the way that thing spread," Estrella said. "There was smoke 300 feet in the air."

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@EagleWings and under wool, all I do is itch LOL. but better to have skin that itches, rather than no skin at all.

If you live in a danger zone, and/or you are worried - you can buy "Fire-Blankets" of various types and sizes. One type we have in some of our bushfire trucks are about 2m/6' square, made (I think) from Fibreglass, and packed in a bag.

A dear friend of mine and a chani member, mamadirt, lives in Hyampom Ca and her home has been surrounded by fire for weeks now. She has had to evacuate twice but is there at this time working to save her place. As of this morning all structures on both sides of the valley are threatened.

These are some pictures from the Route Complex threatening Hampom taken from a neighbors deck.

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Many towns remained under an evacuation order as raging wildfires continued their advance through Okanogan County Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Evacuees and residents impacted by the fire are advised to shelter at Brewster Middle/High School in Brewster (503 S. 7th Street). Questions should be directed to the local Red Cross at (509) 670-5331. Cats and dogs are able to stay at the WASART shelter nearby. Free camping and showers for evacuees are also available at Okanogan Legion Park, 999 2nd Avenue N in Okanogan.

Officials say a failure at a Malott utility substation is causing power outages to Malott, Twisp and Winthrop. The Loup Transmission Line from Carlton to Twisp and Twisp to Mazama is also impacted. The earliest estimate for restoration is Saturday.

Obama signs emergency declaration for Washington wildfires

Earlier Friday, Pres. Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration, ordMany towns remained under an evacuation order as raging wildfires continued their advance through Okanogan County Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Evacuees and residents impacted by the fire are advised to shelter at Brewster Middle/High School in Brewster (503 S. 7th Street). Questions should be directed to the local Red Cross at (509) 670-5331. Cats and dogs are able to stay at the WASART shelter nearby. Free camping and showers for evacuees are also available at Okanogan Legion Park, 999 2nd Avenue N in Okanogan.

Officials say a failure at a Malott utility substation is causing power outages to Malott, Twisp and Winthrop. The Loup Transmission Line from Carlton to Twisp and Twisp to Mazama is also impacted. The earliest estimate for restoration is Saturday.

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I just received a report from an eye witness that watched a White Colored UN Helicopter land on a mountain near Republic Washington and 2 men got out and started a brush fire.

This eye witness (Infantry Veteran) also sighted another odd looking aircraft fire a light beam into the woods and a forest fire erupted shortly afterwards.

These reports are spot on when it comes to location of the fires and is identical to reports of other fires starting across Washington State I have received.

Basically: These fires are being started by US And UN aircraft.

Washington State is under attack by the United Nations and United States Corporation and since the US Nationals Forests currently belong to the government of China they are technically AT WAR with China and thus (According o the original and 2nd treaties signed) at war with the entire "BRICS Set Of Nations."

Hundreds of people were forced to evacuated on Friday as a Northern California wildfire threatened rural communities, destroying six homes, threatening thousands more and prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency. “It’s expanding like a balloon,” state fire spokeswoman Nancy Longmore said. “It’s moving very fast. There’s many homes threatened…This fire is extremely dangerous.” The slow-moving fire managed to burn about a single square mile on Thursday. However, the fire exploded, burning 101 square miles by Friday evening. It was only 5 percent contained. At one point, the blaze was bearing down on the 2,700 residents of San Andreas, prompting an evacuation order for the entire town 60 miles east of Sacramento. However, the fire would change direction, and the order was called off a short time later, state fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.

“The fire was quickly approaching the community,” Berlant said. “This fire is very dynamic and changing different directions with the topography… That makes it very unpredictable, and with the exponential growth, we’re seeing a lot of danger not only to residents in the path of this fire but to our own firefighters, as well.” San Andreas residents were still told to prepare to leave just in case the fire turned around again.

"LAKE COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Governor Brown has declared a state of emergency in Lake and Napa counties due to the effects of the explosive 50,000-acre Valley Fire burning in Lake County. Entire communities have been devastated and thousands have been forced to evacuate.

READ MORE: Latest stories on fast-moving Valley Fire

Several hundred and up to 1,000 homes have been destroyed and hundreds more are being threatened, Cal Fire says.

Cal Fire says that over 1,000 firefighters are battling this blaze but their focus is on evacuating residents.

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"A catastrophic "tumbling wave" of wildfire devastated a small town in southwest Australia and burned over 58 000 hectares of bushland on the evening of January 7, 2016 (local time). Residents were evacuated and several firefighters sustained injuries while battling the raging flames. 3 people are feared dead.

The town of Yarloop, south of Perth suffered massive damage as flames almost 50 m (160 feet) high forced the citizens to leave their homes. Shocked residents described the flames as "one fireball after another".

The wildfire was reported to start around 6.30 pm (local time) and proved to be extremely difficult to sustain, according to Jesse Puccio, a volunteer firefighter: "It just ripped through, it was quite scary. It's like when you see in the war when the napalm bombers go through."

"Update-5 p.m. Thursday: The fire that has been contained near Burrton destroyed three homes before the threat was ended. Two of the homes were in Reno County and one was in Harvey County.

As crews worked to contain the fire Wednesday night into Thursday morning, an overnight perimeter was established in Harvey County. County officials worked with multiple incident management teams to coordinate command staff. Three taskforce groups covered approximately 30 square miles of land.

Forced to leave his Gregoire mobile home, as Howlett made his way south from downtown flames began to lick at the side of his pickup truck.

"I was going up the hill, and the traffic was three cars wide, and by the time I got up the hill, I couldn't see anything," Howlett said. "There was just smoke everywhere. I was just following headlights.

"I was sitting in my car in the line-up, and I could feel the heat of fire all around me."

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Three hundred firefighters on the ground and dozens more in the air continue to battle the most destructive wildfire Alberta has experienced in more than a century but, despite their best efforts, officials concede they are no match for the blaze.

The fire covered about 7,500 hectares on Wednesday; by Thursday noon, it had increased to 85,000 hectares, or 850 square kilometres.

The flames have consumed swaths of Fort McMurray and chased away most of the city’s residents — more than 80,000 people — in a panic-stricken last-minute mass evacuation that is already leaving emotional scars.

What began as a small brush fire outside city limits has grown into a raging inferno, increasing 10 times in size since the evacuation began Tuesday. It’s not known how the blaze started.

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An aerial view of burning vegetation at the wildfire east of Hoyt Lakes on May 6, 2016. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)

"A wildfire prompted evacuations on the eastern Iron Range on Friday night as warm weather and tinder-dry vegetation created dangerous fire conditions across the region.

The U.S. Forest Service reported that a fire burning a few miles east of Hoyt Lakes, near Allen Junction Road and southeast toward the Skibo area, had forced the evacuation of six to eight seasonal cabins. In an update early Saturday morning, the fire was estimated at 1,000 acres and about five miles in length.

The Northland Village assisted-living facility on the eastern side of Hoyt Lakes also was being evacuated as a precaution, authorities said, with residents being moved to the Aurora Community Center.

“For precautionary reasons they’ve evacuated some homes out in that area, and they’ve also evacuated the assisted-living home right on the edge of town,” Hoyt Lakes City Councilor David Zins told the News Tribune."